More than 2,100 pieces of legislation were filed by the Jan. 20 deadline for the first session of the 56th Legislature, including 831 in the Senate bills and 1,340 in the House.
Tulsa World paged through all those measures to give you an idea of what your lawmakers are working on this year.
The 2017 legislative session will reconvene on Monday, Feb. 6.
Education
At least 11 measures seek to give raises to Oklahoma public school teachers.
SB 137 by Sen. J.J. Dossett would increase minimum teacher salaries by $10,000 over 10 years, beginning with a $5,000 boost in 2017-18.
SB 316 by Sen. David Holt would increase teacher salaries $10,000 with a $1,000 raise the first year and $3,000 raises the next three years.
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HB 2336 by Rep. Jeff Coody would increase minimum teacher salaries by $10,000 over four years, beginning with a $2,500 boost in 2017-18.
HB 1114 by Rep. Michael Rogers would increase minimum teacher salaries by $6,000 phased in over three years.
SB 97 by Sen. Micheal Bergstrom would increase minimum teacher salaries by $5,000 over three years, beginning with a $1,000 boost in 2017-18.
SB 8 by Sen. Ron Sharp, HB 1237 by Rep. Tom Hardin, HB 1524 by Rep. Johnny Tadlock, HB 1367 by Rep. Josh Cockroft, HB 1640 by Rep. Scott Inman and HB 1776 by Rep. Jason Lowe: The measures would increase minimum teacher salaries by $5,000.
At least two measures would require public schools to be in session five days a week. About 100 districts in the state are already on four-day weeks, some for as long as 10 years.
SB 37 by Sen. Kyle Loveless would require public schools to be in session five days a week (excepting holidays/inclement weather).
HB 1684 by Rep. Harold Wright would require 80 percent of the school year to consist of five-day weeks.
SB 81 by Sen. Ron Sharp would allow schools to suspend students as young as third grade for assault or attempted assault. Current statute allows out-of-school suspension for sixth through 12th graders.
SB 133 by Sen. Jason Smalley would set salary caps from $100,000 to $150,000 (based on student population) for district superintendents. This would affect new contracts and contract renewals effective July 1. An exception allows districts to use non-state-appropriated funds to pay a superintendent more than the maximum. Districts with more than 10,000 students could apply to OSDE for a waiver of the salary cap.
HB 1115 by Rep. Avery Frix would would prevent the Legislature from creating new mandates for school districts to implement unless they're funded by the state.
SB 12 by Sen. Josh Brecheen would allow private schools to create their own armed campus police, which public schools already may do.
SB 162 by Sen. Stephanie Bice would require every public school student as well as those completing GED programs to pass the same citizenship test used for U.S. naturalization beginning in 2018-19.
HB 1837 by Rep. Leslie Osborn would set a fixed dollar amount — at least $50 million — of the lottery's net proceeds each fiscal year would go into the Oklahoma Education Lottery Trust Fund. The current minimum is set at 35 percent of the lottery's gross proceeds.
HB 1610 by Rep. John Enns would require public school districts in the state to phase in mandatory uniforms for students starting in 2018-19 with K-5. It would direct districts to ensure uniforms are affordable and available to all students.
Abortion and health
SB 710 by Sen. Paul Scott would prohibit abortions in cases where the fetal heartbeat is audible.
HB 1441 by Rep. Justin Humphrey would require a woman seeking an abortion to provide written consent from the father, except for cases of rape and incest or when the woman’s life is in danger.
SB 755 by Sen. Joseph Silk would require a death certificate for an abortion.
SB 817 by Sen. Joseph Silk would make abortion illegal and state-recognized as first-degree murder.
HB 1775 by Rep. Jason Lowe would require Oklahoma to accept federal funding related to the Affordable Care Act.
HB 1818 by Rep. Ben Loring would prohibit sales of tobacco and vapor products to anyone under 21.
HB 1841 by Rep. Leslie Osborn would increase to $1.50 the tax on a pack of cigarettes.
HB 1877 by Rep. Eric Proctor, called Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Act, would set up the framework for Oklahoma patients to legally use THC products prescribed by a physician.
SB 83 by Sen. Ervin Yen would remove the religious and personal exemptions for childhood vaccinations.
Anti-LGBTQ measures
HJR 1023 by Rep. John Paul Jordan would let voters decide to change the Oklahoma Constitution to protect businesses and individuals who refuse certain acts based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.” It also states no one shall be required to recognize a marriage that goes against their religious beliefs.
SJR 36 by Sen. Josh Brecheen references the 10th Amendment (states’ rights) to declare that “all regulations imposed by the United States Department of Education concerning transgender education or procedures are void in Oklahoma.” An Education Department policy requires public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity.
SB 530 by Sen. Josh Brecheen would protect businesses and individuals who act or refuse to act in certain situations based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
SB 197 by Sen. Joseph Silk would protect businesses and individuals who refuse to act “contrary to sincerely held religious beliefs or conscience of the individual regarding marriage, lifestyle or behavior.”
Criminal justice
SB 248 by Sen. Kevin Matthews would direct OSBI to investigate officer-related shootings and in-custody deaths for jurisdictions with a population under 150,000 and review those investigations in larger jurisdictions.
SB 250 by Sen. AJ Griffin and SB 802 by Sen. David Holt seek to direct OSBI to investigate all deaths of offenders incarcerated in an Oklahoma jail or prison.
SB 178 by Sen. Joseph Silk would prevent law enforcement officers from restraining or disarming an individual with an unconcealed firearm in the absence of a criminal act or suspicion thereof.
SB 192 by Sen. Kay Floyd and HB 1468 by Rep. Carol Bush
The measures would remove or extend (to the alleged victim’s 45th birthday) a 12-year deadline for prosecutors to open a case against someone charged with sex crimes against children.
SB 295 by Sen. Ervin Yen would start the process for DPS to be able to use electronic devices to determine whether a driver at the time of an accident was using a mobile device illegally and provides for penalties for those drivers whose cellphone/mobile device use broke the law.
SB 132 by Sen. J.J. Dossett would alter the state’s law regarding non-hands-free use of mobile devices while driving to impose higher penalties for those who violate the law in a school zone or construction zone and cause an injury accident (up to $5,000 fine) or fatal accident ($10,000).
SB 44 by Sen. Ron Sharp would make any non-hands-free cellphone use illegal for anyone operating a motor vehicle.
HB 1541 by Rep. Emily Virgin would prohibit sentencing a person to life without parole if they committed the offense before their 18th birthday.
Others
HB 1279 by Rep. Jason Dunnington would return income tax rates to what they were more than a decade ago for the state’s highest earners and would remove the Oklahoma Capital Gains Deduction benefit. Dunnington estimates it would capture more than $500 million in recurring revenue.
SB 130 by Sen. Quinn, SB 155 by Sen. Tom Dugger, SB 170 by Sen. Thompson and SB 82 by Sen. Kevin Matthews): These measures address the trigger that could further reduce the state’s top income tax rate.
HB 1330 by Rep. David Perryman would assess a nickel-per-barrel fee on “any chemical, saltwater, oil field brine ... or injurious substances produced or used in the drilling, development, production, transportation, refining and processing of oil, gas or brine mining” pumped into any commercial injection or disposal well in Oklahoma. That fee would have generated $77 million in 2014 and 2015. The bill does not specify how revenue from the proposed fee would be allocated.
SB 150 by Sen. Roger Thompson would give a 5 percent raise to most Department of Corrections employees.
SB 17 by Sen. Kevin Matthews would create a fund for the Oklahoma Historical Society to use for events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
SB 190 by Sen. Kay Floyd, HB 1465 by Rep. Jon Echols and SB 791 by Sen. Mike Schulz: The measures would make modifications necessary for state-issued identification to comply with the 2005 federal REAL ID Act.
HB 1004 by Rep. Jason Murphey would reduce from $200 to 1 cent the value of gifts and meals a legislator may receive from a lobbyist in a calendar year.
HB 1257 by Rep. Travis Dunlap would prohibit Oklahoma’s recognition of common-law marriages entered into after Jan. 1, 2018.
HB 1277 by Rep. Travis Dunlap would prevent divorces citing incompatibility if the couple has minor children or been married at least 10 years.
HB 1891 by Rep. Kevin Calvey would designate and adopt the Rosette Nebula as the official state astronomical object.
